The Cloud Witch
by Alavear
Summary: In the Chamber of Secrets something awoke in Bella Potter. Something that had stirred the year before. It wouldn't be until a trip to Italy a few weeks later that the full extent of what had happened would even start to be realized. AU, Smart/fem/Harry(Bella), Pairing undecided,
1. Chapter 1

**So, an editing that I hope makes the story better. It follows the same storyline just fills in some blanks I saw on re-reading.**

Bella stared at the fang in her hand, still coated with and slowly dripping her blood. While Riddle's monolog continued in the background.

The venom from the Basilisk causing her veins to feel like she had magma instead of blood, and the blurring of her vision as she saw two or was it three giant snake corpses in the background. This information told all that she needed to know regarding the fact that she was dying quickly but not painlessly.

'Well,' she thought, reaching for the diary and pulling it towards her. 'If I am going to die that bastard is coming with me.'

Gritting her teeth as the edges of her vision started to get a black tinge and spots started to appear Bell opened the diary and held it still with her bleeding right arm.

Using her right arm as a guide for her left hand she lifted the fang and plunged it into the diary, nicking the webbing between her thumb and index finger at the same time.

As black ink started to hemorrhage from the book, her vision was taken up with the sight of her hands erupted into yellow streaked purple flames. Accompanying the fire was a sudden surge of strength that gave her enough power to drive the fang now coated in the purple flames a second and third time.

The burning that erupted from her scar put the magma in her blood to shame. Clinging to consciousness, she barely heard the shade scream at her to stop as she watched him dissolve in front of her.

As she looked at the flames that coated her hands surged and divided into six separate balls of purple flame that had an odd silvery sheen to them. Five of the balls shoot up and thought the ceiling of the chamber, the sixth dove into her already burning scar.

Upon entering the scar, a second scream echoed throughout the chamber much like the one from the Riddle shade moments before.

Then as suddenly as the screaming had started a ringing silence filled the air, and the burning in her scar dissipated. The purple flames redecided allowing her to watch as the yellow flames which had moved internally while the purple had moved externally. They seemed to be healing both the cut on her hand and the hole in her arm. Matter of fact she could feel the magma that was her blood cool down to normal as her vision returned.

As all trace of the wounds except for the scars vanished the flames died out and the exhaustion set in.

Taking a deep breath, she struggled to her shaking legs, picking up the diary and her wand on the way up. Looking around and trying to regain her bearing she looked to Fawkes and let out a short laugh the look the bird gave her.

His head was cocked to the side as if to ask her what the hell had just happened.

"I don't have a clue either my friend." She told the bird, after all, he had just helped her kill a Basilisk why couldn't he be her friend. Speaking of which.

"Thanks for your help with the snake, it would have been impossible if you hadn't taken out the eyes." Bella thanked him as she turned to the now stirring Ginny.

Turning she took a couple of shaky steps to where Ginny was just sitting up, and getting her bearings. Bella offered her hand to the younger girl, which was ignored as Ginny's wide brown eyes started to tear up and the apologies started.

"Enough Ginny," Bella's tired though firm voice interrupted the girl causing her to fall silent in shock where she sat on the floor.

"Save your breath for getting out of this hell hole," Bella told the girl as she turned and started to walk out of the chamber with Fawkes in the lead pausing only to pick up the sword and sorting hat on her way out. Feeling that if she stopped for any other reason on the way out she would likely be spending the night in the chamber.

Which that happened she would happily maim all those involved, no need to make this rescue mission redundant by killing them.

Arriving at the site of the tunnel cave in, (How was she to know that Ron hadn't learned his lessons on ensuring his wand's safety after living with the twins, or that when an Obliviate gets shielded and sent back to the castor the spell would be strong enough to knock him back and cause the collapse?) she growled at how little progress Ron had made.

After crawling through the whole that she barely able to squeeze herself through. While Ron hugged his sister, Bella walked over to where Lockhart lay in the middle of the walkway, staring up at the ceiling vacantly. Not in the mood to deal nicely with anyone let alone him she roused him by kicking him in the ribs.

"Hey asshole, get up we need to get moving." Was all she said as Ginny sobbed into Ron's hug in the background.

"You guys might want to hurry up as I will not wait for you." She threw over her shoulder as she continued towards the way out.

They used Fawkes to get out and Bella had never been happier that she wore pants instead of the skirt that they had tried to force on her. She didn't know how many times McGonagall had tried to get her to change but she just ignored them.

The debriefing to the headmaster contained only the basics of what had happened after Dumbledore had been removed from the school. Basically, the fact that when she had gone to ensure that Lockhart was going to do his job for once even if she had to force him, which was what it had boiled down to. Riddle living in the diary, the basic of killing the snake then stabbing said book. Bella left out the flames and instead told the Headmaster that she had been lucky in that the sword had broken off the fang in a previous strike attempt which also left the space that her arm had gone into empty.

After the debriefing by the headmaster and freeing Dobby by managing to slip her tie into the book. Though she almost wished that Malfoy Sr had not been stopped by Dobby. True it sounded like he was trying to kill her, but then think of the fun she could have by beating him then threating to report him if he didn't leave her alone. Because really who would try to kill a student in a school hallway when most of the staff are still on high alert due to the recent attacks. After all the official announcement of what had happened hadn't gone out yet.

Bella went up to the tower to go get a shower and changed before the spontaneous feast that they wanted to throw.

Ron had obviously gotten back before her after dropping his sister off at the infirmary. The second the portrait opened she was overwhelmed by the cheering. People ran up to her probably wanting to hug her but backed off when they saw the look on her face. It was her I will hex you into next week if you bug me right now look, or maybe it was due to the blood, slim and ink she was covered with. Who knew?

She had cursed the common room on more than one occasion. The most memorable had been to the twins last year after one of their pranks had disturbed the quiet of the tower as people were trying to study a week before pre-Christmas exams.

While she hadn't been studying at the time the fifth and seventh years had looked murderous and she had been taking a break while sitting in the window and reading The Two Towers just before curfew. The twins had to be levitated to the hospital wing while oozing gray slime and covered in fluorescent orange pustules. They were in there for the week while Madam Pomphrey tried to reverse what she had done, getting out just in time exams to start Monday morning.

Percy had similar treatment when he had tried to punish her, McGonagall only took ten points as she muttered about her mother doing the same thing years ago. Everyone learned to leave her alone unless she talked to them first. By the end of that week, she had the entire house obeying her and she started to plot taking over the school. This year had been her year of more in-depth observation and connection making. Next year she would set her plans into motion.

The path to the girl's stairway cleared as she headed up to shower. On her way she grabbed Percy's arm and made sure that the rest of the house wouldn't wait around for her to finish before going to the great hall.

She needed some space to clear her head.

After the half-hour long shower she got dressed into some of her warmer clothes including a second cloak, grabbed her dagger from her trunk (cursing herself for not having it earlier but she had left it as she hadn't wanted it to be seen with the heightened security everyone was under, well that wasn't going to happen again and secured it to her right calf and hid it under her pant leg) and pulled on her invisibility cloak.

Needing a place to clear her mind and get away from everyone she headed up to the astronomy tower forgoing the feast.

Her irritation with having to deal with the Headmaster was all that had kept her from collapsing onto her bed in the tower.

Once at the top of the tower she went to the furthest and darkest corner sat with her back to the wall and stared up at the clear sky, trying to let her irritation go as the counselor at her primary school had tried to teach her. She would have gone to the greenhouses, but Professor Sprout had wards around them after hours.

Pulling out the small dagger she had on her leg, she stared at it. She had gotten it at a shop in Knockturn Alley last summer having ditched Ron and Hermione as they were arguing outside Quality Quidditch Supplies last summer.

It had a sleek black blade with red highlight much like her hair did, making it look like fire in the night. The grip had purple wire wrapped around it with a thread of yellow in it. She had been drawn to the dagger had felt the need to own it deep in her soul even though at almost 30 cm (1 ft.) long it was a little too big for her to easily hold.

Now as she watched the flames on the 18 cm (7 in) blade dance in the light of the full moon she followed the compulsion that she had to flare the strange fire she still felt dancing under her skin into it.

The flames engulfed the dagger as she felt something snap into place as it shrunk to fit her hand perfectly. It was also now just a little shorter than her forearm. She somehow knew that it would grow with her as she got older. Taking off her boot and removing the matching sheath from her leg she did the same and watched as it also shrunk to fit the new blade. It would also now fit her left forearm perfectly, she would just need to get a couple more cotton shirts looser sleeves.

She planned on using the dagger for close quarters and her wand for distance fighting. She just needed to learn how to use it properly. Then learn how to use them together if she had to.

Feeling more relaxed with that finished she strapped the dagger onto her left arm folded up the extra cloak that she had brought as a pillow, covered herself in the invisibility cloak and laid down to stare up at the stars. Thankfully it was a warm night, as she settled in she started to count down from ten in all the languages that she knew how to read and write at least if not being able to converse in, due to a lack of someone to practice with.

She had taken up studying languages while in Surrey. The Library had been the place that she had gone to get away from all the sheep she, unfortunately, knew as fellow students. There she had found the child's language section and had started to learn. Moving on to the higher levels as she learned more and more. The librarian had noticed her interest even ordered in more books in other different languages for her. So, while she wasn't sure on the pronunciation of all the words she would still write her essays out in various tongues to keep her skills up. It also helped make sure that no one could copy her work (Ron) or nag her about the distance learning of her normal schooling (Hermione).

Sometimes she wished that she didn't have to keep up appearances as much as she needed to.

Under the careful watch of the moon, she fell asleep before she even got to five in her first countdown.

Down in the Great hall, the feast was just starting to really get underway.

 **Have a good day, and remember if I owned any of this I probably wouldn't be writing on here.**


	2. Chapter 2

Bella woke up with the sun just starting to peak over the horizon. Standing up she tucked both of her cloaks into her bag and watched the sunrise.

She so did not want to deal with people today, or anytime in the next week heck next year. Though she knew that if she wanted at least some peace and quiet until the summer began that she should get back to her dorm before anyone else awoke.

The journey back was uneventful. It seemed that even the portraits were sleeping in today though it could be because the sunrise was before five this time of year. Heck, not even The Fat Lady was awake enough to scold her but that could be due to the empty wine bottles lying at the bottom of her frame.

Shaking her head, she went up to her dorm and headed to the shower to warm up and work out the kinks from sleeping on top of a stone tower under the stars. Not the smartest of moves but one that she had needed.

Though she couldn't help but notice that the curtains around Hermione's bed were closed. Seems that the Mandrakes had finally matured enough, why they didn't just but some she didn't know. Hell, she had even offered to buy some, but they were class C non-tradeable and only institutions could buy them.

After her shower and getting dressed in a school uniform she grabbed a novel and headed down to the common room. She quickly claimed her window seat and read as the sun rose behind her. It wasn't until she heard other people coming down the stairs over an hour later that she put her book away and stood up.

Turning and bracing herself just in time she still froze when Hermione wrapped her in a hug. Barely stopping herself from driving her elbow into the other girl's ribs.

"Hermione, it is good to see that you are out of the hospital wing, but can you let me go?" She asked with an irritated sigh.

"Sorry, I was just so excited to see you as I didn't get the chance to before I went to bed last night," Hermione said while letting her go.

"It's not that I am not happy to see you awake, but I still don't like people wrapping their arms around me." Bella reminded the other girl while placing her hand on her shoulder and leading her out the portrait hole to go for an early breakfast.

Upon arriving at the almost empty Great Hall (it was a Saturday after all, not to mention the late-night feast) and serving up breakfast Bella informed Hermione off all that had happened after she was attacked. All the time biting the tip of her tongue to keep her from blowing up at the girl in the middle to breakfast.

Needing a break from all the staring she finished her plate, grabbed an apple and left Hermione to finish up.

Her irritation grew and her backed itched when it seems like even the portraits were watching her. She knew that not everyone was watching her because look there in the corner half hidden behind a tapestry was a couple snogging that didn't look to be interested in anything else right now.

Hold up a second, wasn't the Percy and the Ravenclaw that had been petrified when Hermione was? That was good to know.

She so didn't want to deal with people today. So, she made her way to her next one of her other places to haunt when she needed space.

The greenhouses, specifically greenhouse 2. It was her favorite one due to the fact it held more common but deadly plants in it, plants that were used in various healing potions but easy to turn deadly if used in higher amounts. Also, the fact that only specific people were allowed into it when Professor Sprout wasn't around helped.

The foxglove in the corner used in both worlds for medicine could slow the heart rate enough to stop it. Over there sat a cluster of monkshood, right next to a shelf full of opium poppies (used in stronger pain relief potions). Nearby sat the flower that she was named after, the Belladonna flower while when used in topical ointments helped relieve pain if eaten straight could cause death my paralyses of involuntary muscle control, say your lungs for example. The purple flowers of the magical variety seemed to match the colour of the flames that she had summoned the day before.

Yes, Belladonna Lillian Potter enjoyed the greenhouse of death as some of the other muggle raised referred to it. It relaxed her to work around the mostly muggle but deadly plants. She had started to take a deeper interest in plants when she realized that when she was working in the garden. It was the only time that her Aunt would leave her alone. Then she had realized that like her Mother and Aunt she was named after a flower she had to look it up.

While it was a highly toxic plant its name also meant beautiful lady in Italian, she had also found out that the other plants that responded to her best were also quite toxic. The Azaleas, Irises, and Begonia's were always the talk of the neighborhood even though her roses were still beautiful if she could say so herself.

Pulling on her dragon hide gloves she got to work on the plants. Tending to them she was unable to lose track of time as she normally did when she tended the plants. The removal the dead leaves, fertilization and watering the plants did nothing to distract her from her feeling of being watched. Noticing that the monkshood was ready she made a mental note to ask about harvesting it. When her work was finished she grabbed a book from her bag and sat in one of the corners and tried to distract her mind.

But it was useless, as she always seemed to be on edge when she had to move between the places that she lived, and with year-end approaching, it would just get worse until she had a chance to settle down in her room. Not that she liked her room, but it was the one place that she was mostly left alone, however, she doubted that after the events of last year she would be comfortable in a place that had been a cage.

Even her visit to the Burrow last year she hadn't been able to completely relax. With Mrs. Weasley mothering her she had felt smothered. At one point, Mrs. Weasley had tried to stop her from flying with the boys. Stating that it was a very unladylike thing for a girl to be playing such a rough sport. She didn't know how Ginny handled it.

She couldn't even start to think about the dorms as her own place. There were too many people, and after her trunk had been broken into and no one seems too bothered by it her four-poster bed lost whatever comfort that it might have had.

Giving up on her book as bad habit she stood up and went out to the grounds and wander around. Standing in the sun she looked up at the sky and smiled when Hedwig flew down and landed on her offered an arm.

At lunch, she managed to catch the eye of one Blaise Zabini. Though her year mate was in her "rival" house and she had been at the start of the first year. Well, screw that.

Blaise was a good for information on what was going on inside the snake den, he had started working with her after the dressing down that she gave Malfoy for skipping on the duel three weeks in. Unfortunately, she had yet to be successful in finding someone from the other houses.

Though most of the other students had left her alone after the pre-Christmas incident. Apparently, the prefects had been talking about how she got into practically no trouble.

"So, what's the word in Slytherin?" Bella asked as Blaise handed over a roll of parchment that would have notes on his observations dating back almost a month. They hadn't been able to meet up after the classes started to be escorted everywhere. The others should be bringing theirs in the next day or two.

"Other then Draco whining about how you should have died?" Zabini asked.

"Do I really need to answer that?" She responded with a flat look.

"Not really," Was the answer, "Let's see, other than those from the more extreme family's bitching about the lack of muggle-born deaths, the names are on the scroll by the way. Draco plans to ambush you on the train ride back to London. Something about the fact you are the reason his father needs a new house elf."

"Well if his father wasn't responsible for how the artifact that was used to try and resurrect Voldemort got into the school in the first place, or if he didn't beat Dobby in front of me he wouldn't need a new one, now would he?" She replied while looking forward and trying to look innocent.

"True, but I have to get going before I am missed too much." He informed her, "I shall send you a report of the situation mid-summer when I get a chance to figure out what the other families are saying."

"See that you do," was her reply as she watched him leave.

She couldn't wait for Draco to be stupid again, maybe this time he would smarten up, but she doubted it.

The rest of the day was spent reading then rewriting the list of names from the scroll into Japanese as she was pretty sure no one else could read it. All the reports she received were in other languages, Zabini wrote in either Italian or Spanish depending on his mood. She would then translate them so that no one else would know what was going on.

Though for some reason it didn't seem as vital that she gain control anymore. That's not to say that she still didn't want to have the ability to direct what was going on. Just that it seemed that something that had kept her anchored at the school had been destroyed in the chamber.

Not that she had felt so connected to it other than that it was a haven from her relatives, a place where her Uncle couldn't reach her. Though if he tried to beat her again this summer he would be in for a rude surprise.

There was never anything interesting in the report other than the names from Blaise about the extremist families. Thought apparently Blaise had overheard some of the puffs talking about how bad they felt for falsely accusing her. He must have added that to make her laugh.

The two weeks passed in a blur of getting ready to leave the school and finishing up her distance schooling so that she might be able to sit the exams at the end of the summer when the kids in summer school sat there's.

As the rumor mill started dying down Bella's mood started to improve. The fewer people that stared at her the less inclined she felt to hex them blind. At least then they wouldn't be able to stare.

Though she didn't see much of Ginny. It appeared that when Fred and George found out about all that had happened and how they had upset her with their teasing had affected her, the closed ranks around her to protect her. Even Percy became protective of her, but that was natural what with him having had to write their parents to tell them what happened.

What a way to find out that your daughter was captured and possibly dead, a letter from the oldest son that was attending the school. You would think that they would have at least had a teacher go and tell them in person. Hell, the three older brothers found out in the common room with the rest of the students.

Bella had also spent time in an abandoned classroom trying to summon the flames again. She could feel them dancing in her blood she thought that it would be easy. It was harder then she had thought that it would be. Without the rush of adrenaline going through her, the flames seemed happier to stay hidden from view, with only the strongest of emotions being able to pull them out.

Although she did manage to bring small amounts of fire into existence they were nowhere near the fury that they had been when she had killed the basilisk. They also kept the almost pearl-like sheen that they had received in the moments after being used with the fang. Though after experimenting on a few mice it seemed that the basilisk venom now impregnated them. However, she had to focus to use the venom so that it would be strong enough to kill a single mouse, let alone a human. It was something that she planned to work on.

Things came to a head with Hermione and Ron two days before the end of the year.

"Hermione, for the last time where I have been going for the last week and a half to study is none of your business." Bella had snarled as she whipped around on the girl that had been attempting to follow her.

"I just want to know what you are looking up and if I can help," Hermione replied.

"No, you want to but in on more stuff that is not your concern." Bella retorted as Hermione took a step back at her sudden anger.

"But" Hermione started.

"No buts, you can't keep your nose to yourself or listen to anyone or anything other than books, can you?" Bella challenged.

Whipping to the side at the sound of something hitting one of the desks in the classroom that they were in.

Snatching her hand out she grabbed hold of her own invisibility cloak and pulled it off to reveal Ron.

"What the hell is this?" she growled, looking at her 'friends' as a cold anger settled in her heart.

"It's not what it looks like," Ron started.

"Not what it looks like? How the fuck is this not supposed to look like my two best friends aren't stealing my things and trying to spy on me?" She snarled at their sudden silence.

"You guys need to realize that not everything revolves around yourselves. Do neither of you learns to leave shit alone? Didn't I tell you two that Malfoy wasn't responsible for anything? But you couldn't stand the thought of me knowing something that you didn't and look what it got you? Ron almost being caught in the Slytherin Common Room, while you were turned into a catgirl for over a month."

"Hermione because you couldn't be bothered to listen to my reasoning as to why to stay with more than one person at a time you almost got killed. Seriously what were you thinking? That with almost the whole school empty that you would be safe as no one would dare stage an attack by the library while all the teachers were outside. News flash that was the best time to try something and not get caught."

"Ron, after Hagrid had dropped the hint that he might have been involved with what had happened last time I started to look up what had led to him being expelled. In fact, the night that your stupidity caught up with you and had you going into the forest I had found the school records for that year. Records that had stated the name of the girl who had died and where. If it wasn't for the fact that the teachers had realized that you had missed curfew I would have been able to talk to Myrtle the next day. Instead, you almost got eaten by what you call giant spiders, rescued by the car that you had flown here all by yourself and started a lockdown procedure for the common rooms so that the door wouldn't open without a teacher or prefect escorting someone."

"Then after all that shit, I risk my life and almost die in the chamber to save your sister and this is how your two repay me? By going through my trunk, taking my cloak without my permission on the one day I left it there thinking it would be safe, then trying to interrogate me. I am assuming if Hermione's questioning had failed you both would have used my stuff to spy on me?" Bella finished her rant, noticing that her yelling had drawn some onlookers to the classroom just off the great hall she had pulled them into.

The shocked silence stretched as Ron turned red from either anger or embarrassment she couldn't tell probably a mix of both. While Hermione had tears falling trailing down her face which was tilted down in shame.

With a growl, she grabbed her bag, stuffed her cloak into it and marched out of the room. The crowd clearing a path as to not earn her ire by getting in her way.

The next day she packed her trunk in preparation for the summer. Not that she left anything of importance in it anymore, her cloak, wand, photo album and money bag stayed with her everywhere that she went. The reports had been filed and slipped into a pocket in her bag as well.

She didn't feel the same depressing sadness at leaving the school as she had last year. It was like the few things keeping her there were losing there hold. Don't get her wrong she still didn't want to return to that house and hopefully not get locked up this year, let alone the possible beating she might receive from her uncle.

She knew that her back had scared from the whipping Vernon gave her after each episode of accidental magic especially the snake incident.

The only time he would lay a hand on her was after her magic had shown, however, those beatings had nothing on what had happened last summer.

Due to her being in a public school they had been careful not to leave any noticeable marks that wouldn't go away after a couple of days home 'sick' from school.

With her possible confinement in mind, she sent Hedwig on ahead of her so that her owl wouldn't be at as large of a risk of being locked up again this year.

With the use of a clever new charm she had found (it was only a couple of years old) Bella was able to charm a hidden pocket in her bookbag to be unnoticeable to anyone but those she let know about. It wouldn't even show up on x-ray exams at the airport.

It had been created by a muggle born that hated the magical means of long-distance travel.

Bella also cast the charm on her the knife sheath so that she could get away with wearing it without anyone noticing. She also placed a cushioning charm on them so that she could wear it all the time and not have to worry about chaffing. She only wished she had found it earlier in the year.

So, when the day came to leave for the summer she slung her bag over her shoulder, boarded the train, and waited for what was to come.

 **Hope that you enjoyed the rewrite of this chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

The train ride had been thankfully uneventful. No one bothered them as no one wanted to antagonize Bella as her mood had only gotten worse after confronting her 'friends'. Although she had lied when they asked where Hedwig was, saying that she was off delivering a request for a summer subscription of the Daily Prophet. That was the bulk of the conversation that they had.

Though she had a feeling that Hermione was only sitting with her as the other girl had no other friends. Both Hermione and Ron hadn't talked to her after her semi-public dressing down of them. Then when they had followed her to the compartment she knew that it was just for show.

Ron was also not happy that she refused to let him take Scabber's out of his cage for the duration of the ride. Something about the Rat set her on edge. Though she did threaten to feed it to Hedwig if it got within six feet and wasn't contained, which made sure that he listened to her.

When the train pulled into the station neither of them even turned to say goodbye. Both just grabbed their trunks and walked away towards their parents.

Watching them go she felt something within her that had been slowly getting weaker, shrivel up and die. It felt like she had been kicked in the gut as her heart clenched uncomfortably.

The car ride back to the house had been quite which had suited her mood well.

Though she had been surprised that as soon as she gotten into the house she had a cheap duffle bag tossed into her face.

"Pack your clothing and toiletries, we fly out in the morning." Her Aunt ordered her.

So, with her Aunt standing over her watching as she packed to ensure that all school-related items bar acceptable clothing were the only things placed in the bag. Thankfully Petunia didn't notice that her wand was not in the trunk at all.

Half an hour later Bella was pacing in her room as she ran over the information she had just been given. Apparently, Uncle Vernon had been invited to Italy for some in-person business negotiations, said negotiations were to last for a month ending two days before her birthday, they would be leaving in the morning as they had decided to take advantage of the opportunity to take a vacation, and for some reason when she was ten they had gotten passports for the family.

When the paperwork was being filled out for Dudley they had gotten hers as to avoid any questions and had used her school picture for that year. That was also why she was traveling with them, Aunt Petunia was worried that people would talk if they left their twelve-year-old niece home alone, or with a neighbor the day after returning from a boarding school, even on for troubled young girls like Saint Catherine's.

Before she went to bed that night she sent Hedwig to Ron and Hermione with letters letting them both know what was going on. Some small part of her hoped that they would at least care enough to read them, also it was best to keep up appearances. Though she did give her beloved owl orders to see if they wanted to write a response before returning to her if not then to just return.

With that done she laid down absently rubbing at her sternum where the ache still lingered, as they would have to get up early to catch the flight to Florence, Italy the next day.

The next afternoon she found herself stumbling into the hotel suite that they would be staying in. They had to be up and at the airport for five after all. Though she had managed to keep hold of her passport as her sleep addled Aunt forgot to take it back.

Looking around she knew that she would be lucky to sleep on the couch in front of the tv as there might have been two bedrooms there was no way in hell that she would be sharing with Dudley.

After the bellhop had dropped the bags off she had received direct instructions that she was not to interfere with their vacation. So, with orders not to be in the room between the hours of eight in the morning and eight in the evening, she grabbed her school bag which had been her carry on and left to wander around the city. She even had her own room key.

Glad that she at least had some pounds on her she grabbed a tourist map off the counter by the hotel.

She then went in the direction of the elevator so that the staff wouldn't see her leave alone. Though she was now one of the taller girls in her year she was still only twelve nearly thirteen and she didn't want any questions asked this early in the stay.

With the map stashed in her bag, she walked in the direction that she could hear traffic and proceeded to try and find her way to get something to eat.

Her first stop was to a currency exchange, then after getting her food, she wandered around until she found a small park/playground that wasn't too busy.

So, the days passed, she would sneak out of the hotel in the mornings and back in in the evenings. Spending her days either walking around the city and seeing the sites or at the park listing into the parents as the talked to the kids so that she could at least brush up on her verbal Italian. She would even talk to some of the kids occasionally, but not for long and she never told them that she was there on vacation.

On her second afternoon, she found an out of the way alley and started to use it to practice with her flames. Though on her third afternoon she started to feel eyes on her but was unable to see anything when she looked around. By the middle of the second week, Bella could summon the yellow speckled purple flames into a thin shield that could either hug her skin or moved further out as a barrier. She was also able to tell that the person watching her was about her height, male and kept to the rooftop. He hid at such a spot that the angle allowed him to watch her, but she couldn't see him. Just the random glimpse of blond hair and only hear the occasional snicker drift down on the wind.

She purchased food from the various corner stores that she found alternating the streets so that no one would get suspicious of her. At night she would return to the hotel and stay out of the way. Though it wasn't that had as they would go out for dinner, then she would bed down in a corner of the room under a spare blanket with a second one being used as a pillow.

On the last day there she returned to an empty hotel room. Not empty as in they had stepped out for the evening but empty as in everything bar her bag had been packed and removed.

Trying to ignore the growing panic at the possibility that they had left her she settled down and tried to get some sleep.

When they hadn't returned by the morning Bella assumed that they had left her. With a heavy heart that they had abandoned her, not quite believing it but not surprised either. The envelope that had been pushed under her door didn't help matters much either. In it was an invoice with a note thanking them for paying for the room service they had had.

Still not being able to believe that they had left, Bella checked the small kitchenette for any leftover food (which there was none), grabbed her bags and left.

The duffle was small enough that it fit on snuggly on her back, even after she placed her school bag in it. Then again, it's not like she had a lot of clothing to bring with her, to begin with.

As she arrived at the alley where she practiced her control Bella sent out a small invisible amount of flames to do a quick scan of the area. Absently noting that her watcher was already there but with someone else that was both older than him but smaller as well. Looking up she still couldn't see them, but she sent a quick smile their way for the sake of it, as she pulled the flames back in and headed towards the back wall taking a closer look for spots where puddles might form when it rained while stepping around one on her journey towards the back.

When she was three-quarters of the way down the alley she heard footsteps other than her own echo off the walls around her.

Turning slowly, she watched as two men blocked her exit and slowly advanced towards her. They were spaced apart enough that she wouldn't be able to slip along the wall and to get by, but close enough to the center that they would catch her if she tried to run straight down the middle.

"I don't know, she seems a little younger than the other ones we have already brought in." The one on the left said in a slow but deep gravelly voice. His words filtered to her brain as she recognized spoken Italian well enough to understand.

"Don't care. We only need to deliver one more and I want to get out of here before _they_ find us." The one on the right said with a growl in his voice.

The emphasis on the way he said 'they' sent a shiver down her back. As if this man now following her into an alley and

Dropping her bag to the side Bella tried to put some distance between herself and the men while she looked for anything she could use to try and aid in her escape. She really didn't want to have to kill them in the one place she had started to claim as her own. The cops showing up to investigate the bodies would mean that she would have to find a new spot to hide.

Not seeing anything that could help and not wanting to give away the secret of her flames right off the bat she slowly drew her knife as to not draw attention to it.

Her residual flames that had started to permeate the alley as she practiced informing her of the fact that her watchers were now very interested in what was going on.

Taking a deep breath, she froze when her left foot hit the back wall. As the men got closer the height difference became more and more apparent. They both stood around a foot taller than her, and in the shadows of the alley, they didn't see the black blade in her right hand.

Seeing that the man on her left had stepped into the middle of the alley to avoid a puddle she made a break to try and run past them, wanting to get out of the alley and back to the main street without getting in a fight. Then she would be able to run to a store, shed some tears about how bad men were chasing her. The men would then have to back off if they didn't want the cops to arrest them.

But the man saw her attempted break and moved to intercept her. He side-stepped and grabbed on to her right arm as she went to dart by.

The sudden jerk of him catching her shoulder and pulling her, caused her to lash out with the knife. She drove it into his lower right rib cage and buried it up to the handle with the tip sticking out of his back near the spine. The spells on the blade allowing it to slice pass the rib cage and through the liver kidneys and nick the infer vena cave with no problem. Her momentum as she ran forward caused the knife to tear sideways gliding along the ribs and out his back.

The jarring motion caused by both him grabbing her and the pressure as the blade punctured, traveled through then leave his body caused Bella to trip and fall to one knee. The sudden warmth on her hand caused by the mortally wounded guy's blood caused her to momentarily forget about the second man in the alley with them.

That is until her left shoulder erupted in a flash of mind-numbing pain that she couldn't even cry out from while hearing the seemingly distant report of a gunshot. Mind cleared of anything but the pain it took her several seconds to realize that the other man had walked up to her and was watching her from only a foot away, the gun in his hand pointed at her head.

"Well now, we were going to let you live and only give you to our employer. However, you just killed Frank over there." The second man's voice washed over the haze in her brain. "So now I will just kill you and be on my way."

The words caused her to forget about keeping her flames secret. She pulled them up to form a visible shield around herself. The sudden surge of adrenalin caused her to momentarily forget her pain as she somehow managed to get her feet under her and lunge at the other man.

Barley taking note of how the now pure purple flames moved with her as they hovered only a couple of inches above her skin, Bella lunged forward at the surprised man and purposely drove the blade of her knife into the middle of his chest piercing into his heart and killing him in seconds. She pushed him back as he fell so that the blade slid out from his body as easy as it went in.

Not caring about the blood that had just sprayed onto her shirt, Bella stumbled the six feet over to her bag and dropped her knife so that she could try to open it with her right hand. The pain in left shoulder rendering that arm useless as every breath became agony when her chest moved.

Belatedly she realized that her hand was shaking as she fumbled with the zipper. Placing her knee on the one end held it down so that the bag would open. Reaching in she grabbed the first thing that she could and tried to wrap it around the area in her shoulder that the blood seemed to be coming from. That was when she realized that the purple flames were still dancing on her skin and that the yellow ones seemed to have decided to center themselves in and around the wound.

In fact, she could feel them as they seemed to be dancing more around the back then her chest. They had a mild warming sensation that if not for the angry white-hot burning sensation of the wound itself she might have said that they tickled.

Gritting her teeth in the pain she did her best to wrap the sweater that she had grabbed behind her back over the exit wound, biting the top end to hold it she slid the other side under her arm and pulled it up to the front.

She almost passed out from the pain as the makeshift bandage was tightened over the wounds, the waves of agony sending white spots into her vision.

Still feeling her watcher's eyes on her, Bella picked up her blade and unsteadily got to her feet.

Looking around as a white tinged indigo mist started to fill the alley, Bella heard a now semi-familiar snicker.

Shear exhaustion seemed to bulldoze into her as she felt her control of the fire slip out of her grasp. She fought to stay on her feet with pure stubbornness as the pain from her wound seemed to flare a thousand times higher. She struggled to stay standing feet as the mist reached out to seemingly grab her.

The last thing she saw was as her watchers jumped down into the alley in front of her. After looking at the bodies the blond boy with his companion sitting on his shoulder turned to look at her. Unable to see his eyes due to his hair and unable to make out the others face due to their hat the last thing Bella would be able to recall is the bright flash as red fire engulfed the bodies, while darkness filled her vision and she felt herself starting to fall.

 **Hope that you enjoyed the changes.**

 **Have a good day,**

 **Alavear**


	4. Chapter 4

**Please take note that I have updated the previous chapters. While Chapter three doesn't have too many changes I have gone back and added to both one and two. Hopefully, they make the story better.**

There was a voice talking to her. She couldn't make out the words, but they were slow and somehow comforting.

Opening her eyes, all she saw green hair and light.

Mind to confused to try and think straight all she could do was moan as pain flared in her shoulder as she felt something being pulled from it. Feeling a warmth rush through it for a second then something else being placed back on the wound she let the blackness start to take her again.

There was something wet being rubbed on her right arm. What was with the tightness on her bicep anyway?

The sudden stabbing sensation in her elbow had her jerking awake, pulling her arm back and striking out with a sloppy punch at the shape overtop of her. The crack and sharp pain in her hand had her attempting to scramble away from whoever it was.

The flash of fresh white pain as she hit the cold stone floor stunned her for a second, as something crashed near her. The pain and adrenalin causing her to draw her flames into what she could tell was a week shield in front of her.

Pushing herself up with her now painful right hand, she used her legs to slide backward as her left arm hanging as useless as it was. In the background she heard someone yelling to get a shark for some reason, then the sound of footsteps running and a door slamming.

Looking around she realized that she was in some sort of a hospital room, though it wasn't in the standard blinding white that she had seen on her Aunt's tv shows.

Behind the bed some of the machinery had fallen to the floor, one even had cables that she followed with her eyes and realized that they were attached to her chest which was bare except for the blanket that her left arm had somehow managed to take with her when she fell. As well as a blood trail that went from her bed to her right arm where her elbow was sluggishly bleeding.

She locked eyes with the man who was now crouched in front of her. He had his hands raised in a gesture to try and show that he meant no harm. His head was half shaved with the green hair that he had been pulled back somehow. He also kept talking as she studied him.

He reached up to one of the counters beside him and grabbed something white from on top of it.

Slowly his words started to penetrate the fog that was her mind, as it slowly translated the Italian that he spoke in.

"You are okay, let me help you." Was repeated time and again as he started to make motions to her right arm.

'Well,' she thought, 'if he can at least get the band off my arm. I don't think it should be that blue.'

Just as she started to nod and let the shield dispel the door flew open and shut to admit a tall man with long silver hair.

"VOI! What's going on here?" the new man shouted.

The sudden noise caused her to flare her flames back to stronger then they were before, while a feeling of warm liquid started to slide her back that was pushed harder into the wall. All the while hating the fact that she was both weaponless and shirtless in a room with two strange men, while severely injured.

"Dammit Squalio, I was just getting her to calm down. For now, just shut up, stand in that corner and help her to calm down." The green haired man shot at the other, whom she assumed was Squalio.

"Easy their Bambina, I am still not here to hurt you, neither is he," was added when her eyes glanced towards the other man.

"I need you to lower your flames so that I can at least stop your arm from bleeding and get the elastic off." He encouraged.

Feeling the strain of trying to maintain her shield she let it fall slowly as she leaned back. Keeping her eyes on the man who was now coming towards her.

Bella watched as he quickly placed some gauze and tape over her bleeding elbow and removed the elastic around her arm.

Letting out a groan as feeling returned to her arm, and unfortunately her hand as the pain while nothing compared to when she moved her shoulder, still hurt a lot.

With all of her focus on the man in front of her, she didn't pay much attention as a blue glow started in the corner the other was in.

Bella watched in fascination as hands moved from her elbow and down to her throbbing hand. With a strange calmness starting to overwhelm her, Bella barely pulled back as yellow flames similar to the ones she had seen healing her in the chamber erupted in the hands of who her mind told her must be a healer.

That last thing that she would remember before she fell asleep would be a sharp stab of pain then warmth as her hand was healed.

When next she woke Bella was back in bed though she appeared to be in a different room, leads were going from her chest to machines behind her with an IV in her arm with an almost empty bag. The lights in the room had been dimmed with what could be either a sunrise or sunset shining through the window.

Sitting up with a groan Bella looked around the now obvious hospital room. Across the room was what looked to be a small bathroom, two armchairs of an indeterminate colour sat on either side of the window with a coffee table between them. In the far corner, sat her duffle bag, though it had dark stains on the fabric.

On the coffee table sat what looked to be a cup of coffee and a magazine. A jacket with feathers around the collar sat on the back of one of the chairs.

Wondering who it might have been sitting there and if she had really been in that bad of shape to warrant an almost constant watch, Bella turned towards the edge of her bed that had the IV pole.

The pain in her shoulder while still there had died down to a dull throb. Upon closer inspection, she saw bandages taped to it. Though she was able to move it a little without an extraordinary amount of pain.

With her bladder making itself known she slowly stood up on shaking legs. Things seemed to be going well until she took that first step towards the bathroom. Even as she tried to hold herself up using the side of the bed her legs gave out underneath her.

Blindly reaching out with her other hand she grabbed onto the IV pole and accidentally brought it down with her. However, the leads to her chest disconnected, so with the crash, as she and the pole hit the floor a high-pitched alarm started to go off blended in with her yelp of pain.

Hearing the cursing that accompanied footsteps as they rushed towards her room as the door opened and lights flicked on.

Looking up she saw the same man that had been working on her before striding over to her and tossing something onto the bed.

She shuffled backward as he reached over her head and silenced the alarm that was going off. Next, he righted the pole and squatted down so that he could talk to her.

"So, what are you doing down there?" He asked.

"If you must know, I was trying to get to the bathroom." She snapped back while taking note that although she knew it the words were in Italian, she was able to understand them and respond in kind. Much like parseltongue.

"Well then, let's just disconnect this and get you over there shall we?" He chuckled as he deftly disconnected the IV line from the needle in her arm.

Bella reached up to try and grab onto the side of the bed, but her shoulder wasn't having it. T

he man squatted down in front of her and grasped her shoulder from underneath the arm to help her stand up.

Pausing only to put on a housecoat they made their way slowly towards the bathroom. Thankfully by the time they got to the bathroom door her legs were more or less capable of holding her by themselves, so she was allowed to go in by herself.

After using the toilet, she made use of the toothbrush and toothpaste all the while making faces at how weird the IV in her elbow felt.

Her exhaustion started to come back, making it hard for her to both stand and brush her hair at the same time. Not wanting to end up on the floor again she tucked the hairbrush into the hose coat pocket she made her way back to the bed. All the while being watched closely by the man who stood beside it, a new bag of liquid hung on the IV pole.

"Do I really need that?" she whined.

"Well dear, until I know how your stomach will handle food the answer is yes. Though I think that we might be able to forgo the heart monitor now that you have woken up. Now get into the bed before you are on the floor again." He replied.

Sitting down with a sigh, she pulled the brush from her pocket and watched as the tubes were reconnected.

"Who are you anyway?" Bella asked, "Where am I and how long was I out?"

While she tried to brush out the mess that her hair was. There was a reason why she always kept it in a braid. Though she wasn't sure how successful she would be. Her left shoulder ached and didn't want to move too much, and it just felt weird trying to bend her right arm with the needle in it.

"Oh, Silly me, I haven't introduced myself yet have I? My name is Lusseria but you my dear can call me Luss." He said.

Taking the brush from her Luss walked to the other side of the bed and started to brush out her hair for her.

"You are in the Vaira Manson in the Italian countryside. Belphegor and Mammon brought you here yesterday afternoon and it is currently around six in the morning."

"I am Belladonna, but most people just call me Bella." Bella introduced herself.

"Can you braid it for me?" she asked tentatively. While she still didn't like people to close to her, he had healed her yesterday after all.

"Of course, dear. Just as long as you don't try to punch me again." Luss joked.

"Sorry about that," She said while flushing. "How did you heal me anyway? I know that my injuries shouldn't be this far healed for what happened."

"Oh that, I have the ability to help direct and speed up the body's cells similar to how you made that shield. Which was rather impressive considering how close you were to passing out again. It was simple with your hand, just a line the bones and speed up the rate that they healed."

"But not my shoulder?" She asked while flexing her hand, which unlike her shoulder wasn't stiff at all.

"Well, when the bullet went through you, it caused some of your bones to splinter off. I had to dig out the pieces so that they wouldn't affect your range of motion. Unfortunately, after that, there is only so much I can do to help. The bone was regrown and the main damage to the muscle and ligament healed, but It will still need to finish healing then get its strength back."

"So, you sped up the recovery, but I will still need to get the strength back?" She confirmed with a yawn.

"Yes, now why don't you get some more rest. I will get some food when you wake up next." Luss suggested.

Reaching up with her left hand slowly she realized that her hair was now in a french braid. She hadn't even felt it being pulled once!

"Thanks, Luss." She yawned while taking his advice and laying back down. Eyes closing as Luss pulled her blankets up before she could try and reach for them.

 **So, I will be introducing more people next chapter, I already have it started but we shall see how it goes.**

 **Sometimes I swear its like no matter what I have planned the story just writes itself. Is that normal?**

 **But on the other hand, I should be able to get more writing done as I have finished doing what I can for Christmas. But I will do my best to make sure that my updates are no more than two weeks between each for this one.**

 **Anyways have a good day,**

 **Until next time,**

 **Alavear**


	5. Chapter 5

Bella awoke to a familiar but muffled screech accompanied by a tapping.

Opening her eyes, she failed to hold in her laughter at the sight that greeted her.

Perched on the window ledge was Hedwig in all her glaring and puffed up glory. With a scroll tied to her leg.

Luss, in turn, had his back to her, hands on hips and seemed to be glaring right back. As if challenging Hedwig on where she had the audacity to think that she would be allowed in.

At the sound of her laughter, Luss spun around, hands still on hips and glared at her as well.

"Just what do you think is so funny?" He demanded with a raised eyebrow.

"You know if you just let her in that she would settle and not disturb anything right?" Bella asked.

"And have an animal that might be carrying who knows what into a medical room? I think not." Luss challenged.

As if trying to argue with him Hedwig let out another screech and resumed tapping on the window.

"If you really think that I would let my owl pick up something harmful to either herself or others you are wrong," Bella replied with a glare of her own and crossing her arms.

"I think that the only reason that she hasn't tried to get in here by flying through an open door or other open window is that the door here is closed. Look if you don't let her in now she will just keep at it but only get more annoying as time goes on."

As if to prove her words Hedwig raised on foot talon's extended, rested it against the glass and let it drag down the window pane. Though only at a distance of six centimeters to drag the sound made both people cringe.

As Luss turned back to glare at the owl again, said owl raised her foot again as if daring him not to let her in.

"Look she is a fully trained messenger bird, more intelligent than some people I know," Bella said. "Also, she knows not to leave anything behind other than the occasional feather and the letter that she is obviously carrying for me. Other than last summer when she was looked up she has never left so much as a single pellet or dropping in a building that wasn't the owlery at school."

"She won't stop until you let her in." Bella reminded him as Hedwig dragged her talons a second time, leaving a scratch on the window.

"Fine." Luss snapped, "But you are paying for any damages she causes."

He walked forward and opened the window wide enough for Hedwig to hop in. That done he stalked out of the room muttering something about getting food for her.

After reliving Hedwig of her burden, the owl walked along the bed to inspect her as if taking stock of any new injuries.

Bella couldn't keep in the yelp of pain as she reached up with her left arm to stroke her chest.

At the sudden noise, Hedwig flew off her bed and landed on the back of the chair without the feathered jacket on it.

'Well, that's not good' she thought while ignoring the warmth that was starting to spread on her shoulder.

Picked up the scroll she cursed when she saw that it was written in German. Not because she wasn't able to read it. But because it was the what they used when the information was more than seemingly idle gossip to be passed on.

By the end of the letter, she was seeing red. A murderer had broken out of a high-security prison, was suspected to be after her due to the fact he was a follower of Voldemort. Because of that, the ministry was pushing for upgrades to the security around the school. Apparently, they thought adding literal soul-sucking creatures to the perimeter might help.

Great just great.

It was the last part of the letter that made her see red. From the information that he had been able to look up. According to his mother, Sirius Black had been sent to prison for causing an explosion that killed one wizard and twelve muggles, as well as apparently being the one to turn her parents over to Voldemort.

Ignoring the pain in her shoulder she crumpled the letter and threw it as hard as she could towards the far wall. It was quickly followed by a pitcher of water that was engulfed in the fire and when it shattered against the wall seemed to have been holding at least double the amount of water that it should have.

Upon seeing the flames, she stopped, closed her eyes and tried to center herself. Looking for her center just as she had been taught to when she was still in grade school. Too bad John was dead now, he would have been able to hopefully help her. After all, he was the one who started to teach her how to access her magic and the basic of fighting.

With a sigh, Bella got up, and while dragging the IV pole with her went to fetch some towels from the small bathroom. All the while pretending that the balled-up letter that had bounced off the wall and landed on the table wasn't there.

Great, it also seemed that Hedwig had left as well.

On the plus side when she was looking for the towels she found a clean set of clothing. While she would be unable to switch the top out on her own she did manage to switch out the pants.

Focusing more on her task of cleaning up the surprising amount of water, which was harder than it had any right to be as she couldn't move her left are least the burning sensation that had taken hold get any worse. The feeling of water flowing over it was weird enough at this point. Mixed with the fact that the IV still in her arm while long enough for her to crouch down limited how far she could reach. There was no way that she would sit on the ground either.

In the end, she settled for just dropping the towels on the floor and trying not step on any of the shards of glass as she pushed them into one area with her feet. Cursing under her breath the whole time.

It was as she was crouching down and reaching for one of the larger shards with her left that Luss came back.

"Just what do you think that you are doing?" He scolded as he entered the door covered tray in hand.

The quick shot of adrenalin had her turning and throwing the shard of glass before she could register what was going on.

At least Malfoy had been good for homing her reflexes if nothing else.

Luss smoothly ducked the projectile that by the sounds of it hit someone else that was passing by the door.

As she registered that he wasn't a threat (dangerous yes, a current threat no) and tried to open her mouth to explain the pain hit again. The sharp flare causing her to take a knee from where she had been standing the moment the door opened. Clutching at her shoulder she barely registered him kicking the door shut, moving into the room and setting the tray on the table.

Staring at the cuts in her left hand from gripping the shard before throwing it she didn't even realize he had moved until her hand was grabbed, and a rolled-up towel pressed into her palm so that her fingers curled around it. She didn't even notice as he injected something into the line attached to her arm.

It was at that point that she moved her right hand from where it was holding her shoulder and noticed that it too was red.

At seeing the extra blood Luss helped her get to the nearest chair. Once sitting he slowly pulled the gown down to expose the now red dressing that had been keeping the sight of her stitches clean.

Looking down she was surprised at how fast the blood was spreading, and that given how much blood she could see that she wasn't feeling any effects from the blood loss. Other than the slight haze that seemed to be starting to cloud her mind. Not to mention that her entire left shoulder was now a spectacular deep purple bruise.

She came back to reality when a new dressing was pressed on top of the old one and her other hand brought over to hold pressure on it. The fact that while she was leaning forward in her chair automatically he seemed to be checking something on her back clued her into what she now guessed was blood that seemed to be trickling down it as well.

Bella did jump when his hands seemed to catch fire as he rested on the front of her shoulder and one on the back.

"What's that?" she asked, more curious than worried but hoping he wasn't too angry.

"Right now, I am fixing what damage that you just did to the repairs I made to your shoulder. The repairs that took me over an hour of work to do yesterday. That is not counting the time it took until you were settled enough for me to actually get to work on you." He growled

Yea, he was pissed. In that, I am a healer and I can't believe you were so stupid way.

"Uh, sorry?" she apologized, "But what are you doing exactly and why am I not feeling the effects of blood loss yet?"

"If you recall, I told you earlier that even though I was able to get the soft tissue to heal that It was still weak?" He asked.

"Yes, I am guessing that some of the tissue gave way then?"

"Yes, it did." He answered.

"When you were shot the bullet grazed an artery. An artery that although I had gotten the walls to heal seems to have moved to much and too quickly causing a tear to appear where the damage was. Right now, I am encouraging the cells to knit back together again. As for how I am doing it and the reason that you are not expressing signs of blood loss that is a conversation best left until after you are cleaned up again."

"But if it was an artery why is the bleeding not mostly internal?" she asked.

Over the last two years, she had found a small interest in healing due to the times she had been stuck in the hospital wing. Chatting with Madam Pomfrey about different was of fixing people had helped her take her mind off the fact she hadn't been allowed out of her bed except to use the washroom.

"Because I was only able to do so much before exhausting myself. Here I thought that you might use some common sense and listen to your body, so I focused on treating the life threating injuries and preventing you from going into shock due to blood loss. As such after healing all the damaged veins and arteries, re-growing the chunks of bone that had splintered off and had to be removed, then getting the muscles, tendons and ligaments strong enough to hold stabilize your shoulder, I figured that you would at least not tear the stitches doing something so idiotic as throwing stuff." Luss ranted.

Slowly the pain gave way to a soothing warmth which disappeared as he pulled his hands back.

"Oh dear, look at the mess you have made of these," Luss said as he pulled the dressing from her shoulder.

Looking down she was greeted by the sight of stitches about three centimeters long. Half of the stitches were now no longer doing their job and keeping the wound closed, as the half nearest here shoulder had split and while not pouring blood was still slowly bleeding.

"Hold this," He told her as he placed a clean dressing over it and went off to gather supplies.

"What are you going to do?" Bella asked, watching as he opened and closed draws and gathered items with an efficiency that spoke of how well he knew the setup of the room.

"Well, I had been thinking about just healing the suture line before I came in here." He started.

"However, since I just had to fix the damage again and the fact that I still have to take care of your hand. I think that I will just replace them, after all, if you did that much damage in less than half an hour you will probably need the reminder not to do too much for the next week."

"I have to keep them for the next week?" she asked shocked.

"You will also have to use a sling for the next two as well. I don't want to have to fix that a third time, and if I do you will be strapped in that bed until it heals." Luss told him in the no-nonsense manner of medical personnel everywhere.

"Now what was it that caused you to do this to yourself?" Luss questioned as he injected the anesthetic and started to clean up the area.

"One of my contacts back home wrote me." She started unsure how to phrase what exactly had happened.

"Apparently, a man who was sent to a prison that has literal soul-sucking monsters as guards escaped. He was being imprisoned for killing thirteen people in a single explosion. Word also has it that he was also the person that gave the information to the leader of an organization that my parents were fighting. That information among other things contained the address that my parents were in hiding with me for some reason.

"That leader went to the house and killed my father and mother while being severely wounded and fleeing the property. The leader hasn't been seen in more than ten years now, but I did kill one of his men just over a year ago when he infiltrated my boarding school and while he was trying to steal something tried to kill me as well."

"How did you kill him?" Luss asked with what seemed to be genuine curiosity.

"I don't remember much from that time, just that as he was strangling me he somehow started to turn into ash. First, it was his hands as I tried to make him let go. After he let go I attacked him, grabbing onto his face as he died."

"You know, I don't think there was much of him left to clean up as his entire body turned to ash. At the most, they would have needed a broom." She thought out loud. Part of her was wondering why she was talking so much.

"Was that the first man you killed?" Luss asked. Knowing that the others would need the information to figure out what to do with her. Would they keep her or send her to an allied family if they didn't think that she could cut it? That was the question on most people's minds, well the minds of those who knew about her anyway.

"Killed yes, watch die a violent death no," she said as Luss moved onto stitch up whatever she pulled on her back.

"How so?" Luss questioned after pausing for a minute to weigh his words.

The haze of her mind allowed her to share a secret that she had shared with no one else.

"Just after my ninth, a man stopped my cousin from beating me up. It was summer, and the neighbors wrote it off as kids being kids even though he is still almost twice my weight and only two months older than me. My Aunt made sure that everyone knew that I was the one that taunted Dudley into the 'fights'." She said you could hear the quotes in her voice saying that they were anything but fair.

"He stopped Dudley from beating me that day then offered to teach me how to defend myself. It started with the basics of how to give and take a punch properly but none of it fair fighting. All lessons took place in a clearing in the woods for two hours after school. The time that I was expected to not be seen. Weekends I would show up after I had finished all my chores. Then one day after school he says me appear on the rooftop of my school.

"After the week in my cupboard for that, he started teaching me how to access the hidden energy of the world that people call magic. I thought that he was joking at first. In fact, I almost left intending not to return if he was going to join in with the others in making fun of me. After all, why would anyone help orphaned freak like me?"

"Magic?" Luss paused where he was after bandaging her back, a thoughtful look coming across his face. It was as if that small revelation changed things somehow. She couldn't see how it would though.

"Yeah, magic. I didn't believe him at first either. At least not until he turned my school bag into an owl. I almost lost my books as the bird tried to take off until he reversed it. That was just before Christmas.

"Over the next few months, he would alternate between teaching me how to fight, moving on from fists to daggers. The days not fighting he coached me through accessing my magic when I wanted to. By the time Easter came around, I could slow a fall from height as to not hurt myself, make leaves spin and dance at will. Though I seemed to have according to him a talent for making more of something.

"Not surprising as I used it to make sure that I had enough to eat. I could make a slice of bread and a small chunk of cheese that I was normally given for supper into a filling dinner. I was even sometimes able to make enough to have some for breakfast if I couldn't get out to steal something at night."

"What else did you eat if you couldn't get out at night?" Luss asked from where he was now cleaning her hand.

"Well, Dudley would take most of my lunch at school so at best I had an apple. I never had breakfast like they did. John did always make sure to have something for me to eat after lessons though."

"John?"

"That was the name he gave me. John Smith, I have a feeling that wasn't his true name though." She mused.

"So, what happened to him?" Luss asked.

"Dudley followed me one day just after school got out. He told Vernon what he had seen, I was in so much trouble when I got home. It didn't matter that I was locked up for the week as I could hardly move the first three days. But I was able to coax my magic into healing my injuries enough to heal faster then I should have, the next four days I was more focused on trying to get food than anything, but he had placed a combo lock on the cupboard. I remember him explain it to someone that he didn't want Dudley to get into the cleaning supplies, so they were locked up." She snorted at that, cleaning supplies yeah right more like cleaning slave at the time.

"I finally was let out after a week, I took the entire next day to catch up on my chores. The day after I went to visit. It wasn't even ten minutes after I finished eating the food he had brought that it happened. All I can remember is the bangs that seemed to fill the air as he fell. He had been shot in the chest three times. I stayed with him to shocked to even think about going for help as he died, my magic too weak to help with such injuries. It didn't take long though, I think one of the bullets nicked his heart as less than a minute later he was dead." Tears starting to fall from her eyes as she recounted the death of her friend.

"By the time I actually went to get help, he was already starting to turn cold. When I was able to find someone and bring them back to show them his body was gone. The Dursleys told everyone that I was playing with paint or something to be covered in so much red."

"How was it that you managed to use magic? From what I have been told most young people need wands to work it." Luss asked after he healed the worst of the damage to her hand. Wrapping the rest up in a clean gauze.

Shaking her head to clear it of her depressing thought she answered. "Much like I access that strange fire, though clearing my mind and will for it to work. But the magic sits deeper somehow, I don't know how to explain it. A wand helps to encourage the energy to surface so that it can be used and directed easier. The flames seem to wrap around my magic like an extra layer of protection that is close enough to call on with more ease and no need for an aide."

"I see," He said. "Do you think that you can stand and get cleaned up by yourself?"

"I think so, that is if you will allow me to move my arm enough to switch my tops." That earned a snort from her healer.

"Well, I think that I can also make it a bit easier by discontinuing the line for you. Mind you if you don't get enough into you I will start it back up again."

"Fine," she sighed as she watched him work.

"I have already washed your back as best as I could, so you don't have to worry about that. Just focus on getting the blood off and I will wrap the dressing's so that you can shower properly after the morphine I gave you wears off."

She was disappointed when he left the needle in and just disconnected the bag, placing a cap on the much shorter end to keep it clean.

He did end up having to escort her to the bathroom as the room had seemed spin as she stood up and tried to walk by herself. Though when she saw the mess of blood on the floor she had paused, she didn't think that she had lost that much blood, but the puddle looked to be more than the amount of water that she had been trying to clean up.

"Don't worry about that. It will be cleaned up while you are changing." He assured her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make more work for you."

"Trust me, this is minor to some of the shit I have had to deal with in regards to my patients."

"If this is minor, I almost feel bad for you."

"Just almost?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you are sticking me in a sling for two weeks."

"If that is the way it is, I guess that you want bed rest instead?"

That made her pull up short. "What! No that would drive me insane."

"I am sure that it would." He said as he pulled new towels and the promised change of clothing out form a cupboard.

"Take your time and if you need help call me." He ordered her after filling up the sink and untying the back of her gown.

It took about half an hour for her to get changed. She was only able to do it due to remembering what she had been taught after her arm had been deboned earlier in the year.

When she looked in the mirror she almost scared herself. With her hair starting to get out of its braid, bags under her eyes and the fact her skin was almost able to rival a ghost she looked like she was just this side of death. With the haunted look in her eyes, she was barely able to recognize herself.

Not that the black track pants and royal purple shirt did much for hiding the fact. Oh well, hopefully, some food and a nap would help.

It was to her embarrassment that she was only able to make it to the door of the bathroom before her legs started to threaten to buckle underneath her. But it seemed that Luss had expected her to not ask for help.

"Another stubborn one," He muttered under his breath while escorting her to the table for food.

"At least the purple looks good on you, long dark hair, pale skin, and those eyes. Give it a couple of years and you will be beating the boys off with a stick."

That got a snort of laughter from her.

"For that to happen the entire male population of my school would have to use more than one brain cell each."

"Surely they can't be that bad."

"They found out I can talk to snakes after that only twelve people would talk to me. This is in a school of around a thousand. Trust me it is that bad." She stated while starting on the food she had been given.

Though cooled the toast and scrambled eggs were eaten quickly. Over the last two weeks staying out of her relative's way she was only able to get some snack food least it looks strange to the people running the stores. Even that way she could only get so much at a time.

As she ate Bella kept a wary eye on Luss, and even though she was unable to move her arm onto the table she still hunched over her food unconsciously.

She knew that he wouldn't take it away, but some habits don't go away overnight. Especially habits learned for survival. Even at school while she didn't have to worry about Dudley stealing her plate, some of more 'friendly' housemates would joke around and take from others never mind that the table was full of platters with the same type of food.

The twins had thought it funny at first and would try and see if they could get away with it. When she started trying to stab them to make them back off after Christmas first year. She did manage it a couple of times. They finally started to back off when she started to use a steak knife rather than the butter knife.

At one point he left to find a sling for her to use. It was then that she picked the crumpled letter off the table and read it again. Trying to focus through the haze that seemed to be slowly dissipating.

Trying to keep a clear mind she saw the information that had been left out. Probably in case, it had been intercepted like last summer. There was something big he wasn't saying, something that she needed to know if her luck was anything to go by.

Grabbing bag, she searched through it until she found the pen and notepad she had gotten the week prior. It came in handy when visualizing how she could ruin her relatives lives.

 _Blaise_

 _We need to meet up._

 _I hope to be in London to pick up a few things around August 1. Let me know a time and place._

 _Belladonna._

Setting her short letter aside until Hedwig returned. The owl had left sometime between her getting the letter and Luss returning.

After that, she searched the bag to see if there was anything still usable. She knew that they would have searched it as she the book bag had been in her duffle which she didn't see any sign of.

What surprised her was sitting at the bottom of the bag was her dagger. Surely, they would have taken that away for safety reasons at least. Picking up the dagger she felt the blood leave her face when she saw her wand sitting underneath it. Happily sitting there in its holster, not tucked away in a pocket that only a magical might be able to detect if they knew how to look for it.

'Not like it matters when I told him about it while he stitched my shoulder.' She thought with a shake of her head.

She ended up having to use her teeth to strap on the wand holster due to the bandage on her left hand. She was in a foreign country with an escaped murder potential after her. If they thought she would walk around unarmed, then she had given them to much credit earlier. Her knife she ended up having to place back in her bag as the weight of it pulled on her shoulder.

Her notes on what to study for her other exams were thankfully still in place, along with her passport which is where they probably learned her name from.

Luss returned just as she was placing the bag back on the floor. To his credit, he did no more than raise an eyebrow when he saw the wand on her arm. Well, that and a mutter about needing long sleeves.

"So, what is the deal with these flames you were talking about?" She questioned after being fitted for the sling and given strict instructions to wear it if she ever left the room.

That was the opening line into a lecture on both the mafia and the secret of the Flames of Dying Will. How they had guards called the Vendici, that the only reason that they hadn't shown up already to take him to prison was that she had already activated her flames.

On the plus side, although rare the few witches and wizards that became active didn't have to worry about the statue of secrecy around other flame users. In Italy, anyways due to the Italian government classifying the flames of dying will as a magical bloodline even if most were unable to use any other type of magic. Along with the power of the flames being enhanced by magic due to how the two types of energy interacted inside of a persons body.

Though to her, the icing on the cake was how rare her primary flame type was.

That they had been impressed with how she had some control already despite only being active for a few weeks and that she hadn't hesitated to kill when defending herself.

"Hold on a second," she said as her mind spun with all the information that had just been dumped into it. "So, you are saying that you guys want to test me when I am healed. If I pass the test you want to train me so that I might get approval from your boss when he gets back. That the training will have everything from basic hand to hand combat up to and various way to assassinate people. Am I missing anything?"

"No, that's pretty much it dear," Luss replied smile on his face from how she seemed to be taking everything so well.

"What about my schooling? I didn't just spend two years studying magic by day and Non-magical schooling by night to just give it up."

"That should be no problem, we can always get you registered as homeschooled for both. You would just have to write the exams while being supervised. Its what we do with Bel. Or we could send you to Mafia School, they have teachers for both societies there."

"Can you give me some time to think?" She asked, "This is a lot to take in all at once."

"Of course, dear, if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask."

She nodded as Lusseria got up to leave, reminding her again to behave or he wouldn't heal her the next time she was injured.

Bella raised her hand in acknowledgment as her mind already spinning as she weighed the options now spread before her.

 **So Happy New Year.**

 **I would have had this done earlier but it rewrote itself four times. Once was even after I spent about four hours working on a handwritten version.**

 **Anyways hope you enjoyed,**

 **Alavear**


	6. Chapter 6

The next day she woke just as the sun was starting to peek over the horizon.

She sat there thinking over all that she had been told the day before. Sure, she had tried to read up on soul magic after destroying the diary. All the books referencing it had been removed from the library. Even the catalog for the restricted section stated that Headmaster Dumbledore had removed them more than twenty years ago.

An hour later she was bored and needed to get out of the room. As nice as it was for a hospital room she had been there for a day and was already starting to go stir crazy. At least she had been allowed to do homework or read one of the medical books Pomfrey kept in her office.

With a sigh, she got up and while trying not to move her arm too much, she slowly got changed and put on the sling. Figuring that if she was going to wander she might as well try and follow at least one of the instructions she had been given. It never paid to piss the healers off too much after all. They know the all that a human body can take before it dies. Also, how to bring it back from the near dead to do it again.

Probably why doctors that go through legal universities swear an oath to do no harm. Something told her that no one here had taken such a vow. Maybe it was the fact that all the people that lived here were assassins?

It was just a feeling, but she might be wrong.

It was the same feeling that told her that Lussuria hadn't expected her not to wander. Not that he encouraged her per say he had just seemed resigned that he wouldn't be able to keep her in one place. Why else would he leave strict instructions to wear the sling if she was going to do something as stupid as wandering around with a screwed shoulder?

Though she did place the dagger inside the sling. While it might weigh to much to wear she wasn't about to walk around without it.

Looking out the window she noted that her room was currently above the ground level, maybe the third floor. With the sun rising to her right it was also north facing.

The grounds were expansive with a thin tree line ending about thirty meters away from the building giving way to flat grass. There were few obstructions between the trees and building. Even the couple of outbuildings she could see to her left looked to give lots of open space between them and the main building.

Turing away from the window, she grabbed her notebook and slipped out of the room.

She wandered the halls until she came to what seemed to be the main stairway. So far, she had only seen a couple of people. They had been wearing black business suits and hadn't even looked in her direction as she hid in various doorways as they passed. Either they felt secure in the fact that no one would dare break-in and thus ignored her thinking she was meant to be there. Or, they just weren't that aware of their surroundings due to it being just after five in the morning or something else.

If she stayed she would need to help fix that. After all, if it had been the school almost everyone would have at least tried to find her. Fred and George were good for making sure people were aware of their surroundings after all.

She had found out that nothing made people pay attention to what was going on around them more than having to walk around the school covered in poke-a-dots or something similar for a week. The potions they used always seemed to last longer if the victim tried to remove it. The few times that they had been caught the punishment was only a detention or two. After all, while embarrassing the pranks never caused bodily harm and even helped improve reflexes on most accounts.

She was distracted by the smell of fresh bread being baked down one of the halls. Following her nose, she found what was the kitchen and dining area. The door to the kitchen was closed however the room next to it was open.

Looking what had to be the main dining room/cafeteria. It had to be where the main personal ate. While nice she couldn't see any organization having both the officers and workers eating in the same spot. Even Hogwarts had the head table so that there was some separation. On one of the tables around the edge had a couple bowls of fruit and some buns.

Slipping inside she grabbed an apple and one of the buns which had to be fresh as it was still warm. Grabbing a bottle of water from a fridge beside the food table and stashing it in the sling. The bun was almost finished so with the apple in hand she quickly left least if one the cooks to was to find her there.

Continuing her exploration, she found her way to the mansion grounds.

She found one of the outbuildings that appeared to have been a stable at one point. It had been converted to a garage if the cars inside were anything to go by. Most of them were the standard black SUV or four-door sedans, with the odd car sticking out for being a different colour. In the corner was a tarp covering something smaller, but she was unable to tell what it was just by looking through one of the windows.

The next building was further down and looked to be a target range of some sort. The school had set up something similar to the targets when they had an archery teacher stop by before the end of school when she was ten. Though the targets the school used had been in coloured circles, not the shape of human that held their own weapons and looked as if they were running at you.

The archery lessons had been when she found out that while she used her right hand to write, she was a lot better at aiming with her left. The coach that had been brought in had seen her struggles with the right-handed bow and had her try with her left.

Her ability went from mostly missing the target to getting most of her shots somewhere around the seven or eight rings. She had even gotten one bullseye. The coach had even offered to teach her more. Even after she gave the standard they can't afford lessons speech he still gave her a flyer with information stating that the club could help cover part or all of the fees if needed.

Needless to say, the Dursleys hadn't been happy when Dudley stole the papers from her and handed them over. It had been the reason that they wanted to send her to Mrs. Figg for Dudley's birthday instead of just letting her 'play outside' by herself, which had happened once before when they had to take Dudley into London for some reason the month earlier.

It was divided into three different ranges she believed they were called. Each range had six different tables with targets down range of each of them. The first was only about twenty-five meters long, the second was one hundred meters with targets at both fifty and one hundred meters, the third was the longest at two hundred meters with spots for targets scattered throughout.

A sign near each range reminding people that if they got shot they would have to deal with 'Mammon' to pay for the medical supplies used due to there idiocy. A side note also stated that is was recommended that they use hearing protections practically for the larger caliber due to going deaf being a liability.

Maybe she would be able to practice her spells here if she stayed. She would need to do something about the trace first. Thought the thought of getting her own archery set also made its way into her mind.

Leaving the building she walked until she saw an old oak tree, much like the one near the Black Lake at school she sat down leaning against the side that the sun had warmed before it had risen enough to be blocked by the leaves.

Looking around she saw evidence of recent mouse activity near the tree. So, she tossed her apple core near the small hole dug beside a medium sized rock nearby. The small pebbles beside her should work as something to stun it. Hedwig would need the meal before flying off with the admittedly short letter after all.

Realizing that Blaise might be visiting his father's family and therefore in Italy as well she added a hasty postscript to the letter.

 _P.S. I am currently in Italy and should be for the next two weeks at least. If not longer after I get some stuff from London on the first. Let me know if you know anywhere that might be better for meeting up._

With that done she sat down and started on a list of pros and cons for the three options she had been given. Well mostly for the two that led to her staying in Italy.

Honestly, she didn't want to go back to Hogwarts and the sheep that made up most of the school and going by Lockhart's success the human population of magical Britain. After all, if she went by the school's reaction to her being able to speak snake even though they knew her that place was doomed. Especially when she compared how the adult and children acted with Lockhart, just because the press praised him almost all the witches seemed to fall for him. Even Hermione did because she couldn't bear to think that a book might be incorrect. The boys didn't like him not because they didn't think he did all of what he claimed but because he was more into self-promotion then teaching. Why else would so many sign up for a dueling club and not walk out when they saw who was teaching. Bella had tried to leave but her way out had been blocked by all the other people. At least she got to see Snape make a fool out of him.

So that left her with the options of going to this Mafia school or getting homeschooled. In order to get out of Hogwarts, she might need to go to this Mafia school as a transfer student. If only to get them to back off, she might even be able to use this escaped murder that was after her as an excuse. After all who could blame her for wanting to be away from any potential danger until they captured him. That school had so many hidden passageways there was no way that they could all be covered at one time, or known about.

Though Dumbledore would probably try and get her to return to her relatives at the very least. If only to try and keep her under his influence. Which in turn presented its own problems.

Bella refused to go back to them. And there was no way in Hell that they could convince her to return willingly.

With a smirk starting to spread across her face she flipped to a clean page and started to plot the ways to get the Dursleys out of the picture.

Trying to get them arrested wouldn't work as the few times the teaches tried to get her out of the house the complaints vanished. She had even spoken to a police officer one time, he had promised to get some further help, but he never returned from making the phone call to child services. It was like he had forgotten all about the case and after her discovery with Lockhart, she now believed he had been made to forget.

That left her with only one option. If she couldn't get them arrested, then her Aunt and Uncle would have to die.

The thought made her pause. Did she really believe that? While a small part of her wanted to deny, it was the part that when they made pictures of their family in first grade that had her drawing four people instead of just one. That part had been shoved into a corner of her mind later that night as she watched Vernon use the drawing as tinder for the fireplace.

Looking around at the grounds it hit her. They had actually left her in Italy, paying for the hotel for an early checkout and had left her. She felt that small part of her die as if it had just been taken off life support.

The hole that it left caused a searing pain to flare in her chest. So, she did what she had done for years to survive. She took the pain and locked it in the darkroom in her mind that she stashed all her pain in, never to be opened except for when something new was to be added.

It probably wasn't healthy, but she didn't know of any other way to deal with it without being punished.

Sensing someone watching her again but lacking the energy to drag her flames up she picked up a stone from beside her. Throwing it she hit the mouse that had tried to take the apple core in the head, and judging by the blood she could see from her position it was dead.

"You can stop stalking me now." She called to the person watching her. Listening to the part of her that said it was the same person that had watched her all last week.

"The prince doesn't stalk." Came a voice from somewhere behind the tree.

"Well if the non-stalking prince wants to actually show his face I might be able to finally send this letter." She snapped back while glaring at the now dead mouse for being so far away. Her shoulder was starting to hurt, and she didn't want to get up to save it for Hedwig.

With a sigh, she placed the notebook down and after slowly getting to her feet, walked the ten feet to the mouse and using the flat side of her dagger scooped it up. While not squeamish after having to disembowel rats for detention with Snape she knew wild mice might have some sort of illness that owls might be immune to, but humans vulnerable. Also, it was a little-known fact that all the owls at Hogwarts were dewormed every month just in case they picked something up.

She really didn't want to spend any more time than necessary under any one's care.

Turning around she froze for a second when she saw that he was reading or at least looking at her notebook. Her notes had been in French this time, as using Italian for secrecy would seem pointless for obvious reasons.

"Why fire?" He asked.

"Its easier to make it look accidental, particularly if the gas range malfunctions in the middle of the night. Though I might give my Uncle a shot of insulin beforehand just to make sure he dies. If my Aunt makes it out what the fire marshal will find will get her a private cell in a women's prison easily enough. My cousin while despicable I will let him make his own bed. I will be surprised if he doesn't piss someone else off enough to get killed before he turns twenty-five tops."

"But why take that risk? If you want them dead, why not just stab them?" He seemed genuinely confused at this point.

"Take a seat and I will explain the method to my madness." She said, then whistled for Hedwig.

He seemed impressed when she caught the mouse that she tossed into the air for her to catch. He sat down beside her while the watched the owl land and start tearing into her treat.

"Simple, while I want them both dead in the long run it won't hurt my Aunt the most. Vernon is a bastard and true going into an insulin-induced come before dying of smoke inhalation is to nice for him it will keep the authorities far enough away. They are civilian after all.

"Petunia is a spiteful bitch who prides herself on having a normal family so by the authorities finding either of my rooms will make her the talk of the neighborhood, and not in the way that she wants. However, I am told that those who commit crimes against children have a tough go of it in prison. Either needing to be kept in isolation for their safety or dying if the word 'accidentally' gets out about why they are there.

"For Dudley, let's just say that I have a good feeling that he will be in juvenile prison before the end of the year or at least leave him to face his own charges without his parents there to keep bailing him out. It would look suspicious if he died as well given that his room is closest to the stairs and there for the front door to get out. Though with all the crap in his room I wouldn't be surprised if he panicked and tripped on something. Thereby knocking himself out before he can escape, or the fire department gets there. Private drive is a few minutes away for the fire trucks after all, and some houses just go up in flames so quickly."

That last part had him snickering.

"Ushishi, I see. So, peasant what's with the Owl?"

"Well, stalker prince, this is Hedwig she is fully trained as a messenger but with more intelligence and much more dangerous than your common carrier pigeon."

As if to prove her owners point that was when Hedwig finished off the mouse by flinging its tail into the air before catching it and eating it.

"Belphegor." Was all he said.

"Huh?"

"My name is Prince Belphegor, not stalker prince peasant." He growled at her.

"Oh, forgive me, Your Highness. I am Lady Belladonna Potter, Head of House Potter and Heiress of the Ancient and Noble house Black." She said while looking him in the eye as her mind scrambled thinking back to the couple of lessons she had received from Blaise.

Though not in person he had given her the basic rundown of the traditions and formalities of the higher classes. However, he had made it quite clear that it was his mother's idea. That along with a self-updating copy of Natures Nobility. As stuffy as the title was it showed not only the bloodlines that hadn't died out but also who was in line to inherit the titles.

"Just so you know, I don't have either the energy or the fucks to give to actually curtsey." She said while looking him in the eye. Well, where his eyes would be if she could see them.

Belphegor seemed surprised at the greeting, and his grin seemed to widen when he realized just who she was. Though he did look shocked when Hedwig seemed to assess him, before flying up to his shoulder to preening his hair.

"Yeah, she does that. At least she likes you, she damn near mauled Malfoy the last time she saw him." The laugh at the memory was audible in her voice. The only reason that he was able to escape was because she had already been given her instructions to leave before she had to be caged for the train ride back.

"A Queen like her shouldn't have to put up with such fools." His awe was heard in his voice, it seemed that not many animals would get near him.

"She likes it when you scratch under her chin."

Sure, she could tell that he was dangerous, only a fool wouldn't be able to. But if he hadn't harmed her during the week of him watching her or with how Hedwig seemed to have started to adopt him she would wait and see what he was like.

After being turned into a puddle of goo from the scratch Hedwig spotted the letter she had to send and glided down to land beside her leg while glaring at her injured arm.

"I didn't do this on purpose, honestly." She tried to reassure the owl.

The blank stare she got in response seemed to be trying to call her out. Then after fluffing herself up, Hedwig held out her leg to allow the letter to be tied to it.

"Thank you, my friend, it's for Blaise he has info I need you to fly fast okay?" She asked. Only to receive a nip on her fingers as Hedwig flew off to deliver the letter.

"So, what is the lost Prince of the Baltic Enclaves doing with assassins in Italy?" she asked in hopefully casual german.

The Baltic royalty had taken a hit after world war one with Latvia and Estonia declaring independence. The remaining nobles were recalled to Germany in 1939 just before the Soviet Union moved in in 1940.

Well, that was with the muggles. Due to the magical communities trying to stay out of muggle affairs and while trying to deal with Grindelwald at the same time they never got around to dissolving the nobility on the magical side. The Baltic countries were still ruled by the same magical branch of the nobility that it had been for the past several centuries. The one family keeping rule throughout all the regime changes.

He was on her in a flash with a knife pressed to her throat.

"How do you know that?" He demanded. The cold blade resting just above her collarbone.

"A modern history book for self-study in the history of magic. I ordered it from a shop in Berlin due to finding that the books from the UK were more biased than normal." She said, keeping her voice steady she knew that he would kill her if she answered wrong.

"You tell anyone that and I will kill you. Understood?"

"As long as you don't let anyone know what the precious girl-who-lived spends her free time plotting how to murder her only relatives you have a deal." She replied feeling the blade scrape her throat as she talked while looking where his eyes would be the entire time.

Willing to keep quiet about him, but also knowing that he wouldn't trust her without having something to hold over her as well.

"Deal." He said pulling the blade away and sitting back down beside her.

Bella pointedly avoided rubbing her throat where she could feel a small trickle of warmth slide down.

"Ushishi, so how else did you plan to kill them?" He asked, seemingly happy with her answer and distracted by other possible technics to kill.

"Well keeping in mind that Vernon is over three hundred pounds most of them are more discreet. Most involve poison or possible a sniper shot to somewhere that would take a while to bleed out. Though the thought of a major car crash did have its points at one time except there was the potential for those not involved to get caught up in the crossfire."

With that, they descended into a conversation that lasted for a couple of hours on the various ways to take out someone over three times bigger than you. Which at one point somehow evolved into ways of just getting information out of a person.

"Holy shit there's two of them!" Someone exclaimed. Interrupting Bella as she was explaining just how effective some first year charms could be useful for integration.

They were so caught up in the conversation that they didn't notice one of the men approach them for something. He should have thought through his words better or at least been ready to dodge the incoming attacks.

Fortunately for him, the large stone struck his head just a microsecond before the knife would have pierced his chest. The blow to his head caused him to turn just enough that the blade sunk into his arm instead. He still crumpled to the ground having been knocked out.

"Well, that was pathetic," Bella said over her companion's snickers.

"I think that we should leave him here while we go find some food. What about you?" She asked while looking up and noting how the sun was now firmly in the sky.

Standing up she gave the fallen man one last look and with a muttered 'idiot' turned to follow Belphegor to what he called the officer dining room.

 **Well, here you go, hope it works.**

 **Have a good one,**

 **Alavear**


	7. Chapter 7

The walk back to the mansion was uneventful except for the few people that they came across.

Most did a double take and muttered something about needing more coffee or about the mists messing with them. However, one reaction was beyond hilarious. Just before they entered the front door one of the guards saw them, crossed himself and while attempting to hide the fact that he was staring tripped over nothing and face planted into a rose bush.

The resulting laughter from the both of them had a small group of three stopping, staring for all of two seconds before turning as one and walking away.

As they approached the officers dining room shouting could be heard. As they got closer, she unconsciously slowed down and extended her senses to try and figure out more of what was going on. She barely noticed how Belphagors shoulders stiffened as she tried to take in her surroundings.

Unfortunately for her, with the door being firmly shut she was only able to get a read of what was in the hall. Seems that she still needed open space for her to get the info that she needed. After all, she had learned to be aware of her surroundings growing up. The best way to avoid being beaten up was for Dudley to not even see her.

"Something wrong?" Bel asked and opened the door when she responded with a negative.

The shouting that was once muffled they were now able to hear clearly.

"Voi! Lusseria either sit down and eat or go look for the brat. Either way, shut the fuck up!"

"But Squalio, what if she stumbles across the viper nests or…" Lusseria's voice was cut across by another a third one growling.

"Well if she gets herself killed at least the Boss won't have to worry about another weak brat hanging around." A third voice cut in.

Both of the unknown voices were male and sounded angry. With the unknown men in the room, she slammed her shields up, detaching her emotions and tucking them somewhere safe. However, she didn't consciously realize that she was scanning the room with her flames trying to pinpoint where everyone was until it Lusseria was upon her.

His rapid-fire Italian flew over her head as he scanned her for any further injuries.

Before she knew it, she was sitting down at the table on the end furthest from what must have been the head. After all, it was the end that had a seat at it with six chairs spread out an even distance away from each other with three on each side.

She was seated on the right side of the table with Lusseria beside her and a man with long white hair that was vaguely familiar beside him. Bel sat across from her with an empty seat beside him and the other unknown man with hair that looked like he had been struck by lightning, and yes his sideburns did look like lightning bolts.

Judging by how he was complaining about having another brat at the something about needing the bosses approval first made her decide to stay away from him for the time being. Who knows, with how his hair was he might get jealous of her scar just because of how it's shaped.

"Voi! Levi, she is here, she will be tested but until then shut the fuck up and get to work." The one who must be Squalo almost shouted. He looked like he was just itching for the now named Levi to pick a fight.

"Oh, Squalo darling, any chance you can approve those purchase requests today?" Lusseria asked while plating up some food. "I need you to sign them before I can order the new equipment and submit the bill to Mammon."

With that, he stood up and left all the while cursing out loud and with a deadly grace to his movements and aura that combined with the long hair, would have had Malfoy Sr green with envy.

She managed not to show any sign of her amusement, though she did allow herself to relax a little as the two men had left the room. What she wasn't able to hide was her surprise when the plate of food that Luss had been making was placed in front of her. Thankfully he was tactful enough not to acknowledge it other than just to raise an eyebrow.

She ate as quickly as she could without upsetting her stomach all the while her brain kept asking her the same question. What did they want from her other than what she could remember being told the night before?

No one had ever given her food without expecting something in return. The Dursleys gave her food so that no one would ask questions and that it would look strange if she never had food at school. Sure they had given the school a line about a special diet due to allergies so she couldn't participate lunchtime events and to the reason why the two lunches were so drastically different. Mrs. Figg never gave her anything to eat except for the cake just before her first year due to being given the same story the school had been.

Hogwarts had to feed everyone, and with how the rest of magical Britain looked at her it was clear they wanted her to be a hero or a scapegoat depending on public opinion at the time. She was tossed up about Mrs. Weasley, on the one hand, she did try to 'put some meat on her bones' on the other she had ignored her sons when they told her about her living conditions the year before. She also went out of her way to start trying to make her into her definition of a 'proper young women' by calling her in before the boys and having her help set up the table for meals alongside Ginny while the others were still out flying. Going on and on about how to take proper care of a house for when she got married.

After eating Belphegor had wandered off to do something and she had ended up following Luss the room she was staying in to get her dressing's changed.

Back in the room, her old dressings were covered with plastic wrap that was taped all around so she could at least shower. Luss had been ecstatic when she still asked him to help her with getting the braid out of her hair and if he would help her take care of it afterward.

Without further ado, she was handed a clean change of clothes, it looked like a set of dress pants, purple button up with a white undershirt. The button-up had been left on the bed as it would just get in the way when the dressings changed. It was also when she realized that she would need to go shopping for some clothing of a more personal nature as it were, along with some other stuff. She would need more then her school skirt and pants if she was going to stay.

It was as she was standing under the warm water and trying to analyze everything that had happened that it finally hit her. Not only had her Aunt and Uncle abandoned her in a foreign country, but not a day passed before she had killed two people.

She dropped the soap as she stared at her hands. What had she done? In an instant, she felt the memory as her dagger had sliced into the first attacker, the strange feeling as his almost warm life blood flowed onto her hands. Her stomach churned as the smell of nonexistent blood filled her nose. In an instant she had the shower shut off and was in front of the toilet emptying her stomach of what she had eaten not that long ago.

If must have been louder then she thought as just after she had finished, she felt a towel being wrapped around her, and she was being handed a glass of water to rinse her mouth out with.

Pulling the towel around herself she struggled to even out her breathing while she felt Lusseria rubbing circles on her back, I wasn't until she looked up at the slightly green haired man that she realized that she had also been crying. Though she couldn't see his eyes behind his glasses the rest of his face showed understanding and compassion that she hadn't expected. Disgust at her being sick? Yes. Understanding and compassion? No.

"Get dressed, and we can talk in the other room." He said when she had calmed down enough.

After he had left, she sat there for a minute as her mind wanted to go numb, but also as it wanted to scream out in pain at what she had done.

Standing with a sigh she did as she was told and after taking a fortifying breath headed to her doom. Not knowing what to expect she but wanting to just crawl into a hole and die she was surprised to see the tea set on the table along with the medical supplies that were sitting on a smaller side table.

"Tea?" she asked.

"Yes, should be ready by the time that I am finished with your wounds." He replied. "Now, come sit down and don't worry. You are not in trouble, and I don't think any less of you."

"Really? Why?" She asked, her confusion showing itself in her voice as she sat down on the stool he had gestured towards.

"Everyone reacts the first time that they kill someone," He stated as if he was talking about the weather. "As this is the first time you have had a few minutes to try and start processing it this is nothing that was unexpected."

"But this didn't happen last year," she started, but even that sounded weak to her.

"Last year I am going to guess that as it happened at the end of the year, just before leaving to go back to your relatives that you didn't have the time to deal with it." He instructed her. "Also, I have a feeling that knowing that it was your hand holding the blade feels different than just watching someone turn to ash. Plus with being told that it was some type of leftover power from when your mother was killed probably helped you deal with it."

"Other then that how are you feeling?" he asked as he finished up and handed her a cup of some tea.

"I don't honestly know," She replied while looking into the depths of her cup while inhaling the smell of peppermint. "I mean I didn't want to kill them, but I don't regret it. Does that make any sense?

"I can still see the blood as it flowed onto my hands, the smell of both the blood and the alley. The fear for my life for the second time in two months though it was different as it was from people that were talking about taking me to someone. After that, all I can remember is trying to get away and pain.

"Sorry for crying." She finished as she wiped at her eyes, "You probably think of me as weak don't you."

"Darling, you are anything but weak." He was quick to reassure her, "The fact that you were able to defeat two fully grown men even if you were just trying to escape shows an inner strength as you didn't just give up and go with them."

They talked for half an hour before he told her something that would leave her thinking.

"Now I want you to think about this carefully. If you do join us, you will be expected to kill again, to the people that you are told to without hesitation or questioning your orders. If you don't think that you can, we will find somewhere else for you to stay if you want."

"Though if you do decide to stay, you will be trained and tested before you are sent out on missions. If you prove yourself, I can see you climbing the ranks quickly."

"Who would train me?" she asked, grabbing onto any information that was being offered.

"Well, Mammon has their hands full with Bel and the accounting. Levi is well Levi, and that man has no patience for anyone but the boss and sometimes the people in his division. Squalo is busy with the paperwork though I have a feeling he might be convinced to teach you how to properly use that dagger of yours." He trailed off in thought.

"What about you?" She asked, "I mean that you said I have a secondary flame which matches your primary yours so if anyone questions it, you have an easy answer. At the very least you could say that I was assigned to you to practice control of my secondary. Plus I am do have some interest in healing people after spending time in the hospital wing at school."

Whatever response that she thought she might receive, she wasn't prepared for what happened. Instead of denying it right away she found herself swept up into a hug buy a man with a green mohawk who was actually squealing in happiness.

When Luss had regained his composure through the smile on his face was almost blinding he let her go.

"I take it that is a yes?" she asked hesitantly.

"If you decide that you want to stay and are capable of doing the bloodier part of the job definitely." He replied while leading her out of the room. "Though why don't we get you set up with some movies to watch so that I can get some other work done. One of the Lightning squad was brought in with a concussion and a knife in his arm. Saying something about Belphegor finding someone to plot with?"

"Idiot should have known not to startle us. Not my fault he didn't dodge the stone I threw at his head." She huffed. "Hopefully he remembers better for next time."

"That's if he remembers the incident at all," Luss replied dryly grin still on his face. "What were the two of you talking about for him to startle you like that?"

"Well this might answer your question from earlier," she started, "but we were tossing around ideas on what to do with the people that ditched me in Italy with only the basics. I even have an idea on how to cover it up."

"Oh really, do tell."

"Well, you know about the mass murder that escaped and reading between the lines of the letter I got he might be after me. It is said that he caused a gas explosion that killed a bunch of people. So if the house just happens to explode in the middle of the night and their bodies get damaged to that any previous injuries are undetectable well who's to say it wasn't him?

"Also if I leave enough of my school stuff in the house it just might throw them off long enough for me to get the paperwork rushed past the Italian ministry as a homeschool student."

"It has potential I will tell you that much." He replied, "Still I want you to take the next couple of days and think about it for sure."

Opening the door to the room that he was leading her to he continued. "I want you to rest for the rest of the day. You are healing remarkably quickly, but I don't you to overstrain anything again so take today to watch some movies or something."

"I am allowed to watch movies?" she asked in shock, as she looked around the room. It had a large t.v. at one end with couches scattered in various positions through the room.

"Of course darling, why wouldn't you be able to?" Lusseria asked.

"Freaks aren't allowed to watch T.V. they might get dangerous ideas." She automatically whispered while cringing and waiting for his reaction. Would he change his mind about helping her now?

Again his response surprised her. All he did was squeeze her shoulder and tell her firmly that she was most definitely not a freak. Next, he showed her how to get the everything going then left to do his other work.

That was how she ended up watching dinosaurs eat people. Bel had even joined her at the point where the tyrannosaurs ate the lawyer. Watching the fat guy get killed for his stupidity was a high point for her at the time.

 **So I am aware that this is a couple of days late. My only excuse is life happened.**

 **I am trying to make it, so Bella has some flaws. I don't want her to come across as OP or like in the books perfect self-sacrificing hero except for eyesight (on that note I took away the glasses). Which I believe that even J.K. admitted. As for her relationship with Lusseria, well can you see her being able to have any decent 'girl' talk with anyone else?**

 **I want to thank everyone for the reviews you have been leaving. Even the five stating nothing but how badly my grammar needs to improve. On that note, I have downloaded a grammar app that hopefully helps. If it just made things worse, please let me know.**

 **I even got a small flame. I know flames are not supposed to be good things. However, I look at it like if my story pissed you off that much that you had to try and bring you to try and send your feelings of anger through a guest review well at least, it got a strong reaction for you to call it 's***' four times in a twelve-word review.**

 **Well, I will let you go for now,**

 **Alavear**


	8. Chapter 8

Torture. That was the only way she could describe the last three days. There was always someone watching her. Either it was one of the minions tasked to keep an eye on her probably ordered to by Lussuria, or the man himself of Belphegor were in the same room. Honestly, the only time she seemed to have any privacy was when she had to use the bathroom.

On the plus side, only half of her notes were ruined. Unfortunately, the surviving ones were on history of magic and potions. Why couldn't it have been something interesting like transfiguration? At least then she could have re-read the information she had found on the animagus transformation. It had taken her until the last day of the term to find that one book and she had only been able to read through the first chapter.

Burning those and anything else covered in her blood had been painful. It also seemed that the action just led to them keeping an even closer eye on her. It was as if they were waiting for something to happen.

Over the last couple of days and only in the privacy of her room (the door had was shut, with blinds closed), she had taken to practicing with calling her flames forward and playing with them as much as she could. The one time she held her dagger in hand and had watched as it grew to a three-foot-long one-handed sword. For some reason, she had a feeling of impending doom if anytime she thought about bringing that subject up to anyone.

After that, the next item she had tested had been her wand. That had also been a surprise when not only had it grown to the size of good walking staff for her height, but the spells she cast with it enlarged also became stronger. It was not long after that point that she had burnt her notes in the shower stall in two seconds flat. Burning those and anything else covered in her blood had been painful. It also seemed that the action just led to an even closer eye being kept on her as if they were waiting for something to happen. But that might have been from the scorch makes on the shower wall as she had missed the pile of ruined papers the first dozen or so times she tried to aim the spell.

However, there were a couple of side effects from using the flame-enhanced focus. First was the noticeable purple tinge that was seen with each spell that was cast as her flames enhanced the effect of them. Next was the increase in power that the spells had. After getting a pillow embedded in the ceiling tiles, she had stopped experimenting. That had not been fun trying to explain as Lusseria had entered while she was climbing on the bed to try and get it down. There was also a problem with aiming as depending on her intent she could use either end of the staff to fire off the spells, which had resulted in the scorch bathroom that was found right after the pillow was removed.

Staring out the window, she watched the sun started to rise, as Hedwig flew in and towards the room she was using. She refused to call what was still clearly a hospital room fancy as it was her room.

'Finally.' She thought as when Hedwig held out her foot with a letter attached. 'Hopefully, Blaise has sent me something useful.'

He hadn't. What had been sent caused a purple haze to envelop Bella's vision while her anger grew. All he had said was that the murder that was after her had caused an explosion killing thirteen muggles and one wizard. Oh, and word from Malfoy was that he was also the one that sold out her family to Voldemort.

Then he had the nerve to try and tell her not to go back and look for him. It was like Blaise thought she would be so stupid to rush off and not try to find out what had actually happened. After all, Bella had seen how bright the schools communal brain cell was. If the teachers were stupid enough not to ask the ghost of a murdered student what happened, she didn't want to think about the intelligence of the common man. If he was that dangerous why send him to prison? Why not kill him and be done with it

He seemed to have realized that what he had to say would piss her off. As such he had also given her a map that included all of the wizarding alleys and office areas for Italy, along with some information on who to contact regarding the school system. Probably in an attempt to appease her. It didn't work.

The sound of the guards outside her door talking made her growl. Here she was no actual information, and while not locked up it felt like they were trying to anyway.

So no news, no actual information she could use and being watched damn near twenty-four/seven. She needed to blow something up, (If there was one thing she could thank Seamus for it was teaching her how relaxing a good explosion could be.) Preferably outside as she had heard about how much the repair bills could be, it wasn't the repairs themselves but the fines for being the reason that such repairs needed that was the issue.

Making sure she had her dagger strapped to her waist and wand in hand, her rage automatically causing it to grow into its staff form.

Stalking out of her room and through the mansion and towards the gun range, Bella didn't notice how when she had entered the hall the guards had paled, looked at each other, and backed right off. Almost tripping over each other in a race to either get away or to get someone. It continued throughout the mansion as the few people that were awake (mostly the staff and personal on guard duty) backed away from her. Unknown to her it was because the purple tinge she saw wasn't just limited to her vision. A purple haze had started to encircle her body as her flames started to make themselves visible in her rage.

Upon reaching the range, she cast shielding and locking charms on the doors so that no one would be able disturber her and walked out into the first set of lanes she could find. Stepping out from under the small roof she started casting, Bella didn't even pause to speak during her casting the spells she used coming from one of the dueling books she had found in the library while looking for actual defense information. She just channeled her magic and thought the spells. At first; the spells flew wild around her while she worked to control the casting and work on her aim. Not that it mattered much as in the half an hour to figure out how to channel her magic the place was already three quarters destroyed. After that, for the next hour, she just blew the targets up in bigger and bigger explosions.

She had started with the targets closest which were only fifteen feet away and move up from there. Fifteen to twenty, twenty-five, fifty then one hundred. She didn't change the distance until there was no visible proof left of the targets except for the pile of slag the wood had been mounted. Somewhere along the line, she started to laugh. After the targets at the furthers end of the section she was in were destroyed only then did she stop and allow herself to catch her breath.

Turning around she allowed her now mostly exhausted (again) flames to seep back into her skin, the shield and locking charms failing at the same time. Tucking her wand into its holster on her right calf, she turned to find a place to sit.

Only to blink at the damage she had caused, of the five shooting benches only one might be usable. On second thought make that none of the benches had survived as a light breeze caused it to fall into a heap of kindling before her eyes.

"Okay, definitely need to practice with my aim more." She muttered to herself.

As the last chunk of wood from the bench hit the support beam in the middle of the shelter the entire thirty-foot-long building started to collapse.

Pulling on her flames to create a shield, she couldn't stop the next bought of laughter that escaped from her as the dust started to settle. She had done that, destroyed the entire building in less than two hours. No one would ever keep her caged again.

Hearing another laugh join in on her own she watched a Belphegor with his partner Mammon on his shoulder walking towards the now destroyed section of the range. She had met the Mist office and information broker two days ago. She had been taken to their office to start the paperwork for her pay.

That trip had led to her getting her own bank account set up at one of the local branches that _everyone_ used. Though it did raise the question of how much was in her vaults and who had been doing what with them for the past eleven years or so.

"Mu, you do realize that you have to pay for the damages?" Mammon asked.

"Well at least let me help with the remaining demolition costs," Bella replied as she pulled her wand again and with and incindio set the remains of the building on fire.

Leaving the still laughing Belpahgor to watch the show she turned to the mansion and went to find a place to nap. Now that the adrenaline had worn off she was exhausted.

Unknown to her the video footage of the past couple of hours was being sent around to the lower ranking personal throughout the Varia organization. No one wanted to mess with the new cloud that had been bought in near death just a week ago.

 **So I hope you enjoyed.**

 **Please note that for the lovely person I have dubbed the Grammer Ghost that I am in fact Canadian and spelling here is a little different than in the US. For example, here it is** _ **colour**_ **NOT** _ **color.**_ **Even now it wants me to correct it.** __ **True my spell check program might have snuck in some corrections on me that are not supposed to be however it is as it is.**

 **Anyway, I shall try to get more done soon I am now on summer vacation so it should help.**

 **Alavear**


	9. Chapter 9

She returned to the room she was using with her eyes barely able to stay open. It seemed that her body hadn't recovered enough to put it through that much stress. The exhaustion brought on an overwhelming need to find a safe place to rest, and so far the medical room she had been staying in was the safest place she knew.

Though to her the bed was to in the open for her, so she picked a spot along the wall that had one of the chairs by the table blocking it from the door. It was also below the window with a wall at her back. The spot was good enough for now. She did make sure to grab the blanket and pillow from the bed. It would give her some comfort.

Letting out a sigh she curled up and let her body rest. That was until what seemed like a short time later, and she felt someone staring at her. She tried to keep her breathing even though when she felt someone kick her foot lightly; she shot up. As she shot up, she also threw a ball of fire in the direction of the one that had woken her up. The purple flames just missed Lussuria and hit the painted stone wall before dispersing almost instantly.

"What pray tell was that all about?" Lussuria asked, clearly unimpressed.

"None of your business," Bella growled back as she stood up and walked around the healer. It was one thing that the people in the Gryffindor common room had learned was to not wake her up from her naps. Glancing at the clock on the wall she saw that it was only nine in the morning. So much for a good nap, it had only been two hours.

Her irritation at being woken up only grew as she was followed to the dining room she had been shown. It seemed she wasn't going to get rid of the healer that easily through the male did stay out of easy strike range though, good for them.

She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and she had to stop herself from snarling as she was studied while getting something to eat. It was like she wasn't trusted even to have an apple and some yogurt in peace.

"Isn't it bad enough that all I have to my name is some books that may or may not have been destroyed by now back in England and the few things that weren't ruined beyond repair?" She snapped. "Do you need to watch my every move? Is it so much to ask that I can have a few minutes alone?"

Lussuria seemed to have expected something like this to happen as all they did was sit and watch her from the other side of the table. Though if Bela knew that her eyes had taken on a slight purple glow with her desire to have something of her own, she might have tried to reign in her temper a bit more.

"What do you mean that your things might have been destroyed by now?" Lussuria questioned after she had finished eating.

"My relatives ditched me in a foreign country. Do you think that they would want to have anything left around their house that proves I use to live there?" She asked. "It's not like I ever had my room there or anything."

"Is there anything that you would want to be retrieved from there?"

"There is a couple of items that I hide well enough that they wouldn't be able to find. But how would I go about retrieving them?" She asked. "It's not like I can just walk down the street and be at there house."

"You just leave that to me, darling," Lussuria replied.

Taking a deep breath, she asked a question that had been on her mind for the past few days.

"What are you?" She asked.

"Don't get me wrong I know you are human, but my eyes tell me you are a man, but it doesn't line up with what my magic is telling me." She rushed to explain as she saw her possible death in the eyes of the person in front of her. "My magic is telling me you are female. There were a couple of others at my school they felt like that, but I was never able to ask them."

Bella did relax a little as she saw the look understanding cross Lussuria's face. At least she wouldn't die in the next five seconds.

"Well as you said I have the body of a man, but my soul, if you will, is that of a woman's." The healer explained.

"So, what do you want me to call you as then?" Bella asked she had heard Vernon complain about people like the one in front of her. So, it wasn't the first time the almost-thirteen-year-old had heard about something like this. But she also knew that a lot of what Vernon said was worth less than the air used to speak the words.

"Well, you can call me by Lussuria or Luss. Though if you want to you can call me Sorella."

"Okay, thank you for answering my question Luss." She replied not quite comfortable calling her current watcher sister just yet.

After she finished eating and having promised Luss not to do anything else that might overstress her, the healer left to arrange something.

For the rest of the morning, she explored the mansion that she was staying at. Mostly she found the servants passageways and tried to memorize which on a lead where. You never knew when you might have to get from one place to another without being seen.

The afternoon was spent watching movies and laughing at some of the stupidity of people in horror movies. Really who decides to split up when someone is after you. Haven't they ever heard of strength in numbers?

 **So here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter is started just need to type it up.**

 **Cheers**

 **Alavear**


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